Digital Only Subscription
Read the digital e-Edition of The Standard-Speaker on your PC or mobile device, and have 24/7 access to breaking news, local sports, contests, and more at standardspeaker.com or on our mobile apps.

Digital Services
Have news alerts sent to your mobile device or email, read the e-Edition, sign up for daily newsletters, activate your all access, enter contests, take quizzes, download our mobile apps and see the latest e-circulars.

Article Tools

Kristen Mullen/Staff Photographer
Audrianna Bartol, of Hazleton, laughs as she is held by a Hannah Montana impersonator during a fundraiser at That Bounce Place in Edwardsville in 2010.

As the little girl from Hazleton bravely battled an aggressive cancer for four years, hundreds came together to support her.

They offered prayers for remission, many of them publicly over the pages of Internet social media sites like Facebook and Twitter.

They came to her aid and fulfilled as many of Audrianna Bartol's dreams as they could.

They offered financial support for her family's mounting medical bills and living costs not covered by health insurance.

In her six years, Audrianna touched many hearts as she battled neuroblastoma. When the little girl took her last breath Friday, tears began to fall and condolences began spilling across the same Internet pages where many of her dreams were granted as strangers and friends reached out to her family.

Audrianna, wise beyond her years, taught compassion and selflessness and her zest for life showed others not to take their own lives for granted, her godmother, Dena Bencivengo, of Hazleton said.

"The second you saw her, this child touched you. She touched you in every way possible," Bencivengo said.

Every beautiful trait displayed in media accounts of Audrianna's life and on Internet websites was real, Bencivengo said. There was no "sugar coating" about Bartol, she really was that wonderful.

Though a special child, Bencivengo said she was still surprised with the amount of people that came together to support her while she battled cancer from all over the world, knowing how cold and cynical the world can be sometimes.

Audrianna's Wish, her Facebook page secured more than 77,000 likes and her Twitter page, @audriannabartol, has more than 600 followers. Her mother's blog, audriannabartol.blogspot.com, has chronicled the family's journey since Audrianna's cancer diagnosis in April 2009 when she was just a toddler.

Bencivengo is best friends with Audrianna's mother, Angela Bartol, and Bencivengo said Audrianna got her strength and fight from her mother. A premature baby, Audrianna was a fighter from the day she was born, she said.

Though sick and in pain, Audrianna would not hesitate to bring someone else happiness if they were upset, she said.

Amanda Donald, of Beaver Meadows, met Audrianna a few years ago at a birthday party in Wilkes-Barre. Ever since she was diagnosed with cancer, Donald faithfully followed her progress online.

"She made people that didn't have feelings, find their feelings and find their heart," through her courageous battle with cancer, Donald said.

At her last hospital stay Donald and co-worker, John Veen brought Audrianna a pink Minnie Mouse stuffed animal. Her big bright eyes and her smile said thank-you before the words came out of the six-year-old's mouth, Donald said.

"And she held onto my finger and that was the best thing ever," she said. "That little tight grip of her hand on my finger that meant the world. That smile was everything."

Veen said for how sick she was, she was a happy child. People, Veen said, complain about things every day but when you take Audrianna's story into account, there really is nothing to complain about.

He said years from now people will remember her story during their own dark days and her story will help them.

"I think she will change lives with her story," he said.

Donald and Veen joined others with sunken hearts and anger that there is no cure for cancer yet, when they heard the news Friday, that Bartol had passed.

"It's a crying shame we have to see things like this in this day and age. You can make the biggest bomb in the world to destroy people but you can't find a cure to save a six-year-old's life," Veen said.

Kristen Buczynski, formerly of Hazleton and now of Northampton, said Audriana and her son Nathan Naprava, also six, formed a friendship over the years and though not living in the same town anymore, they didn't forget about each other. Nathan sent Audrianna a video of himself singing "You Are My Sunshine" to lift her spirits recently.

"In her six short years here, she touched so many lives," Buczynski said. Audrianna's fearlessness and fight "probably saved a lot of lives too," she said.

A variety of fund raisers were held in Audrianna's honor since her diagnosis. Those events not only raised money for the family's mounting medical expenses, they lifted Audrianna's spirits by fulfilling some of her dreams.

A Facebook and Twitter campaign made several of Audrianna's dreams come true.

A personal message of encouragement recorded by pop star Katy Perry was sent to Audrianna after it was made known online that Audrianna wanted to talk to the singer. In the video, the star sent her love and noted the many people in Pennsylvania and around the United States have done the same.

Last October, Outten County Chrysler near Hamburg arranged a trip to Disney World in Florida for the Bartol family so Audrianna could realize her dream of being a Disney princess for a day.

Audrianna was not well enough to make the trip to Disney in December as planned but went in January with her mother and father, James and Angela, and little sister, Kyra.

She also wanted to go to New York City and see the Stature of Liberty, FAO Schwartz and the M&M Factory and eat pasta with alfredo sauce at Angelo's on Mulberry Street.

Though she couldn't go to New York because of health reasons, two Hazleton firefighters - Joe Bugda and Tony Columbo Jr. - flanked by others in the community, brought Disney and New York to Audrianna through a fundraiser held in November.

Columbo said he and Bugda were "touched" by Audrianna's battle and her wish list and wanted to help her realize her dreams.

"We wanted to help a little kid that at six years old that had a bucket list. Joe said 'bucket list and a six-year-old shouldn't be in the same sentence,'" Columbo said.

Columbo said Audrianna's story has made people realize how fortunate they are and he believes she is looking over everyone, protecting them.

Hazleton firefighters will never forget her, or her family, who are being kept in so many people's prayers, he said.

"She really was an inspiration to everyone. She really was a fighter," he said.

Audrianna was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma in 2009, a cancerous tumor that develops from nerve tissue, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine. It usually occurs in infants and children.

achristman@standardspeaker.com

We welcome user discussion on our site, under the following guidelines:

To comment you must first create a profile and sign-in with a verified DISQUS account or social network ID. Sign up here.

Comments in violation of the rules will be denied, and repeat violators will be banned. Please help police the community by flagging offensive comments for our moderators to review. By posting a comment, you agree to our full terms and conditions. Click here to read terms and conditions.